


mechanic

by hikaie



Series: dealer's choice [3]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Awkward Sexual Situations, Developing Relationship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:15:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23132275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hikaie/pseuds/hikaie
Summary: “Last chance to back out.” They tell him, raising a lazy hand to pass over his curls. Elliott pushes into the touch, and his look is surprisingly… soft. Bloth thumbs the crinkled spot between his eyes.“I’m not leaving.”---mechanic: as in the practice of illusory magic; an operator who is very skilled at sleight of hand, usually with cards
Relationships: Bloodhound/Mirage | Elliott Witt
Series: dealer's choice [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1418995
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	mechanic

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Elliott Witt tells Dumb Lies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23096842) by [kittymsmith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittymsmith/pseuds/kittymsmith). 



> Something quick! Didn't really plan this one (I have, like, an absurd number of ideas for this series but this one... wasn't one of them), just wrote it on a whim and kinda shoe-horned it in. A little silly, but I said I'd do it, didn't I? Enjoy!
> 
> (Psst; I'm also going to use this opportunity to throw something out there. If someone inspires you, please give that person a shout-out! Even if you don't use the built-in system AO3 has for it, at least a little thing in the author's note is fine. I read a LOT of the fic in the tag, and I really appreciate the content the community puts out, but it feels pretty shitty to be ripped off! Don't do that!)

Incense was still lingering in the air while Bloth sat on the floor, carefully detangling their hair. It was a new scent, and they weren’t sure that they liked it. Perhaps if they gave it another shot, or blended it with something else. They pulled another bead from the plait they were unweaving, and added it to the small bowl in front of them. It made a pleasant noise, metal on stone, as it swirled to a stop next to the other adornments of various sizes.

The panel on the door chimed and they looked up. Each pod on the drop ship was equipped with fogged privacy glass that could surround their rooms; Bloth was one of the few that used it liberally, and the door was of course _always_ locked. They continued to unbraid their hair, raising their voice to ask, “Who is it?”

“The one and only.” A familiar voice sang. They snorted and rolled their eyes.

“Come in then, quickly.” Abandoning their hair for the moment, they reached to the very limit of their capabilities in order to allow Elliott inside, rather than stand to do it. They settled back comfortably as he shuffled in, and they nodded at the panel. “Close it for me?”

The man hummed and palmed it. They glanced up at him only briefly before they ducked their eyes back to the hand mirror propped on a low shelf. “Did you need something?”

“Maybe I just wanna see you.” He moves, just the outline of him turning in their periphery, until he’s behind them. They’re extracting a wooden bead, one of the last. In the spare sliver of the glass they have available, they see him looking around.

“Can I help you?” They peer over their shoulder this time, and find Elliott biting his lip.

“Did I leave my journal here?”

The corners of their mouth tick up. Bloth lifts their chin toward the highest bunk, where they’d set the leather-bound book. His eyes turn there, but not so much his face, allowing them to see the way he smiles and the way his eyes soften. From this angle they can see the pulse in his neck; it’s something barely perceptible, really, unless you know where to look and what to look for. Bloth does. He reaches to grab it and they lose sight of it; they duck away before he can catch them staring.

“Thanks.”

“Think nothing of it.”

All beads gone, they become a bit careless, dragging their fingers through crimped locks. Elliott moves around, until they feel the closeness of his legs at their back. A hand gently sweeps the hair away from their temple, leaving Bloth to still their own hands. They hear his clothes make a soft shift, and feel his breath before his lips. Bloth hums and settles their hands in their lap; when they look, they can see him watching them in the little round mirror.

“Hi.” He says, and hides his ever-present smile behind the curve of their neck.

“Hello.” Bloth raises an eyebrow at him. “Did you get what you came for?”

“Not just yet.” His tongue brushes up against their skin, this time, and they sigh softly. Now they close their eyes, and reach over the opposite shoulder to grasp the hand he’d settled there.

“While I do love to indulge you,” Oh, interesting. They hadn’t ever really thought of their earlobes as sensitive. “the floor is rather uncomfortable.”

“Well, last I checked there was a hammock right about… oh, here!” The hand on their shoulder disappears, and they hear the ropes creak as they’re grabbed. His other hand has snuck around their front, palm light on their pelvis. A tease, or a promise?

“My, feeling acrobatic, are we?” Bloth dips on their elbow and twists around, looking up at him. _This_ hasn’t been going on for… too long, now. Just a few weeks, really. At first Bloth had wondered what Elliott really wanted out of it- he’d made some jokes, and they hadn’t corrected him. Then, in the interim of the Games moving to Talos, they’d both had time to heal up and _finally_ settle all the tension. …And settle it, and settle it, and _settle_ it. They’re not saying the floor is uncomfortable without reason, after all. It was just… sometimes they thought he might have forgotten the part where they told him it was more than sex.

And sometimes he looked at them like this; eyes lidded, mouth a somber sort-of line. Not a frown, but not the camera-ready smile. It made their stomach clench.

“Or we can do it on the floor again. You’ll get no complaints from me.” He winks at them, and they push a breath out through their nose.

“Trust me when I say, the rope burn alone should make you reconsider.”

“Ooh, kinky.” He slips his fingers into their leggings, and they oblige him by uncurling one of their legs from beneath him. Giving him more room to work with is _generous_ of them.

“Mmh. The pressure marks are quite silly, also. Triangles.” They trace the shape in midair. “They will be everywhere, even where it is unflattering.”

“Pfft, babe. You haven’t seen me in fishnets.”

“Oh.” His eyebrows jump up, and they cough. “’Babe’?”

“You don’t like it?” His hand pauses, which is quite unfortunate because things seemed like they were just getting interesting. Bloth raises their hips, and he gets moving again. “Just trying it out. Should I try something else? Bab...y? Is that too similar? What about-”

“Elliott.” They lift themself up, fitting themself into the curve of his body. He kisses back eagerly when their lips meet, and then his fingers are sliding free of their pants and his arms are curling around them, pulling them close. The two of them twine around each other, pressing ever closer until they’re pulling apart to clamber into the hammock. Well- Bloth does. Elliott pauses, and they break out in a toothy smile.

“Not very gr-gra-gra-graceful, is it? Haha…” He steadies a hand on their knee. “Uh.”

“Did I not warn you?” Bloth gathers their hair over both shoulders, then starts wiggling out of their pants. It’s inelegant, but they’ve had a decent amount of experience. Elliott watches them trepidatiously, attempting to steady the rocking hammock. “Come on, then, trickster. Let us see what you’re made of.”

“Str-strong stuff! Totally! I’m very, like, incredibly flexible… enough… for this.” Bloth threads their fingers through the mesh, and tugs one of the furs out of the snarled pile. Elliott fumbles with the waistband of his sweats, and they decide to have mercy on him and help him with his shirt.

“No more excuses.” They tell him, pressing a soft kiss to his chin. Bloth hooks their heel behind his knee and jerks, leaving him to yelp and crumple forward into their arms. The hammock swings, the ropes giving a groan of complaint, and Elliott _squeals_. Bloth shakes with barely-suppressed laughter as he goes stiff against them, face planted in their chest.

“Oh holy shit.” He wheezes.

“Last chance to back out.” They tell him, raising a lazy hand to pass over his curls. Elliott pushes into the touch, and his look is surprisingly… soft. Bloth thumbs the crinkled spot between his eyes.

“I’m not leaving.” His hand is calloused, but not quite as rough as their own, where it wraps around their wrist. “Bl-”

This is approximately the moment Elliott makes his fatal mistake. He starts to lean forward to kiss them, dragging one knee up. The hammock rocks, and some grave misjudgment occurs between leg and rope that completely throws off the tentative balance. Bloth digs their fingers in, and gets to witness as the man twists momentarily before toppling out altogether.

For a blink, it is silent.

“Don’t.” He groans from the floor.

Still rocking, but relatively safe from being expelled from their bed, Bloth spares a hand to cover their mouth. It does little to cover their laughter.

“ _Hound_.” Elliott whines, and they hear a few thumps. “Fuck. Okay, I’m-I’m-I am _never_ doing that again.”

They dip a leg over the side of the hammock, foot landing squarely in the center of his back. “Do not give up so easily, it can be quite cozy.”

“You were the one trying to talk me out of it before! Jeeze, the floor is way more com-c-fort-aff- _comfortable_ than that!”

Bloth sits up, dangling out both legs and peering down at the man. He’s still lying face down, but when they prod his side with their toes, he snickers and rolls over.

“Come down here.” He pats his abdomen. They laugh and shake their head.

“Absolutely not. My tailbone is still recovering from the last time.”

Elliott sticks out his bottom lip. “I’ll fall off again. And I don’t, y’know, wanna break my dick? …Is that a thing you can do? I’m pretty sure it’s a thing you can do, I- there used to be this regular at the _Lounge-_ anyway. Yeah. Not going near that thing.”

“Hmmmh.” Bloth leans forward, almost to the point of being spilled out of the hammock. They’re far more used to anchoring themself, however, and they just hang out slightly above him, deliberately pondering him until he’s crossing his palms between his thighs and blushing.

“H-hey-”

“I suppose if you like it on the floor so much, you can stay down there.”

“Oh. _Ohhh_. Oh, yeah?” He sits up abruptly and edges closer to them. They meet him in the middle for a kiss, returning their hand to where it had last fallen, a soft caress through his hair. It’s a luxurious, and perhaps selfish, kiss. He’s a good kisser, and it always feels so intimate. Almost… loving.

“Yes.” They finally murmur as they’re pulling away. He looks a little stricken, but this time, it’s their turn to grab onto the netted fiber as he jerks them forward. He’s smiling, and he turns to press it against their thigh.

“Sounds like a good compromise, babe.”


End file.
